Silly Septic System Standards Harm Rural Napa

In 2009 new rules regulating on-site wastewater treatment
systems — also known as septic tanks — were being proposed by the State Water Resources
Control Board (SWRCB). If the state approved the new rules, some speculated the
cost could run into the thousands of dollars. This was a hugely incorrect underestimate.
Now in 2019 the cost of a new standard septic system will run at least $20,000
- and an “engineered” system will run at least $45,000.

The issue of septic tanks’ impact on the environment popped
up after certain conditions developed in Santa Monica Bay in Southern
California causing concern among wealthy landowners there. This prompted the
SWRCB to develop new regulations to prevent that kind of thing from happening
again, despite the fact that the conditions in Santa Monica were nothing like
the rest of California

In 2009 Supervisor Diane Dillon called the proposed
regulations onerous because they propose a one size fits all solution. Dillon
said. “They want to apply the same regulations to areas that don’t have a dirty
water problem. We do not have dirty water problems.” The Napa County Board of
Supervisors in 2009 took a unanimous position opposing the proposed regulations
for a host of reasons. In a letter to the SWRCB, supervisors declared the
regulations to be a “solution in search of a problem.”

Fast-forward to 2019. The rules were passed, everyone
suffers, with no compelling environmental benefits. And the difference between
needing to install an engineered system rather than a standard system? A few
inches of dirt in the drip (leach) field! The rules require that the leach
field have normal dirt down to three feet deep. If the soil becomes rocky, i.e.,
rocks mixed with dirt, an engineered system is required. In the rural areas of
Napa County, especially in the hills around Lake Berryessa, it is difficult to
find areas where the soil does not become rocky before a three foot depth is
reached.

In a recent septic system installation on sixty acres of
land three miles from Lake Berryessa, a standard septic system (no electricity
or special pumping systems needed) that had been operating well for more than
25 years, had to be replaced with a $45,000 engineered system because the available
leach field sites only had normal dirt down to less than three feet. The rules
did not allow for installing a much larger leach field to compensate for the
lack of soil depth. If the dirt had been a few inches deeper a standard system
could have been installed for $20,000. That’s a $25,000 cost difference for
about 6 inches of soil depth - $4,000 per inch!

Supervisor Dillon complained about the “one size
fits all” approach in 2009, and now in 2019 it’s a costly reality. And I challenge
anyone to find a knowledgeable engineer, installation company, or county
inspector who does not consider the present septic system rules anything but unscientific
bureaucratic overkill - about $45,000 worth.

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Initial System Test Video (above)

How a “standard” septic system works

1. Wastewater, a polite term for sewage, from toilets, baths
and sinks flows into a single septic tank. Gravity allows sewage to flow from
house to tank. No electrical connections are required.

2. A septic tank holds the wastewater allowing solids to
settle as sludge. Lighter liquids like oil float to the top as scum. Wastewater
remains in the middle. Baffles at the inlet and outlet allow only the separated
wastewater to flow out to a leach field (drain field). Buildup of scum and
sludge are removed every 2-5 years.

3. A distribution box channels wastewater into perforated
pipes. A drain field takes the wastewater and allows it to leach into the
ground where bacteria decompose the remaining elements of the cleaner waste
water. Disease-causing organisms, organic matter and most nutrients are
removed. The clarified wastewater is distributed into the earth.

Standard Septic System Control

How an “engineered” septic system works

1. An engineered system includes a treatment unit, one or
two processing tanks, and a control panel with a programmable dosing timer. In
the treatment process, filtered wastewater from the clear zone in the
processing tank is pumped to a distribution manifold in the treat­ment unit.

2. The effluent percolates down through the textile media, where
aerobic (in the
presence of oxygen) bacterial treatment occurs. The textile media’s
complex fiber structure provides tremendous water-holding capacity and offers
an extremely large surface area for biomass attachment. A percentage of the
treated effluent is re-circu­lated for dilution and additional treatment, and
the remaining treated effluent is discharged by pumps under pressure for
dispersal to a drip field.

3. A drip field takes the
wastewater and allows it to leach into the ground for bacterial decomposition.
This is the same final process as that for a standard system except that it is
pressurized and three independent electrical connections are required - two for
the pumps and one for the control system.